Feds finally relax pot policies
By Steven T. Jones and Ben Terrall
Might the wasteful U.S. war on marijuana be coming to an end? That possible light at the end of this long dark tunnel was sparked by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday when he said the federal government would no longer raid medical marijuana facilities in the 14 states where voters have legalized weed for medical uses.
That announcement comes just days after California Assembly member Tom Ammiano introduced a bill that would decriminalize and tax marijuana, even pot consumed for strictly recreational reasons by healthy Californians. Advocates are hailing the twin announcements as a refreshing change from the ridiculously intolerant rhetoric that has characterized the national narcotics debate for decades.
Even after the inauguration of President Barack Obama, the feds continued as before. Following four simultaneous Drug Enforcement Administration raids on pot clubs in Los Angeles on Feb. 5, the Obama Administration has responded by stating that it will move to end such raids.
White House Spokesman Nick Shapiro said he expected President Obama to end the policy when a new DEA Administrator is seated. “The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," Shapiro said.
Caren Woodson, Director of Government Affairs with the group Americans for Safe Access, told the Guardian a couple weeks ago that “in terms of representing patients on the ground, I wish they had signed an Executive Order the first day. But we’re immensely pleased that this statement has come from the White House.”
Holder told reporters yesterday that Obama would keep his campaign promise. “What the president said during the campaign,” Holder said, “is now American policy.”
On August 21, 2008, during a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire, Obama was asked by a local resident if he would end federal raids targeting medical marijuana patients. Obama replied, "I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users. It's not a good use of our resources."
On January 22, only two days after Obama's inauguration, the DEA raided a medical marijuana dispensary in Lake Tahoe, California. Activists say the raid requires a response from President Obama, in keeping with his campaign trail commitment.
Dan Bernath of the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project told me, “These Bush holdovers are not going to allow Obama to respect states' rights on medical marijuana” or “to respect science.”
But now, the Bush holdovers have been given their new marching orders: leave pot policy to the states. Next, it’s up to California to fill that new void with meaningful reform of the marijuana laws that affect millions of healthy and otherwise law-abiding Californians.
digg •
del.icio.us •
sphere •
google
•
Comments (5)
TOOT - TOOT.
Posted by Patrick Monk. RN. | February 26, 2009 05:43 PM
BTW, Mayor Gavin Newsom (who is seeking to become governor and has never been shy about using his veto pen) opposes legalizing recreational uses of marijuana, with spokesperson Nate Ballard telling the Examiner's Melissa Griffin, “The mayor is a strong proponent of medical marijuana, but he opposes the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes."
http://www.thesweetmelissa.com/sweet_melissa/2009/02/in-the-assembly-tom-ammiano-remains-true-to-form.html
But he doesn't seem to oppose the deep cuts to government and social services that this costly war on the state's top cash crop is causing.
Posted by Steven T. Jones | February 26, 2009 06:53 PM
Steven,
How about Obama backing telecommunication immunity? Oh yes, that is merely a "gotcha" comment, not a comment that attempts to point out the level of self-deception and rationalizations that the supporters of the Democratic Party engage in.
Look away readers, nothing here.
Posted by michael worrall | February 27, 2009 02:13 PM
Michael,
That's no 'gotcha'. That's a totally reasonable question. The DHS (Homeland Security - how nazi) must have put extensive COINTELPRO type of operatives and operations in place all over the country. My question, who is still spying on who?
My guess is there are a bunch not just in the pot clubs, but also in City government. The head of the Department of Technology for instance, worked previously in a company that did hardware for DHS and the head of DPW previously was the head of Homeland Security for the District of Columbus.
And, you won't upgrade on the U.S. Attorney for Northern California. His replacement is in the hands of Dianne Feinstein and Louis Renne. They gave you both Kevin Ryan and Rusinello.
h.
Posted by h. brown | February 27, 2009 02:33 PM
Here you go: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/27/MNQI166PAV.DTL
Posted by michael worrall | February 28, 2009 03:48 AM